Cooke Street Carnival “Fall, Feathers and Fringe Y’all”

Autumn Street Fest

Each neighborhood in Raleigh is starting to have a yearly event. With SPARKcon, Raleigh Wide Open, Cherry Bounce, Rebusfest, Artsplosure and all of the block parties, we will soon have one long party all year long! The latest in the addition of cultural gatherings is Cooke Street Carnival and if you ever find yourself sitting around thinking “Man, is it Kirby Derby time yet?”, then this will be just for you.

Cooke Street is part of Idlewild on the edge of historic Oakwood. Cooke will be closed down between Jones and Lane from 2-8pm on Saturday October 17th. The theme of the carnival’s first year is “Fall, Feathers and Fringe Y’all!”, so be sure to wear your favorite mask, feathers, beads, plummage or carnival costume! Think London Carnival, Mardi Gras, or anything else that involves colorful flamboyance. Also, bring some canned foods for donation to The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

The day will be filled with local bands (A Rooster for the Masses, Tonk, Johnny Swank, Viswas Chitnis and DJs between), art vendors (Holly Aiken, Marjorie Fish, Epona and Oak, Doug van de Zande, Captive Collective, Get Dressed, snarkimedes and Rebus Works. BBQ on a pit, hot dogs for the kids, cider, an ice cream truck, rumors of a Taco Truck and best of all, a 12 tap Aviator Beer Truck. WOAH!

Johnny Swank’s Cooke Street Carnival Musical Infomercial

There will be lots for the kids too including a costume contest, pumpkin decorating and other activities, art, face painting, magician, and street perfomances. There will be Bird Themed Vacation Photo Ops by Casey Porn, Paul Friedrich, Keith Norval, Adam Peele, Sarah Powers and more… These are gonna be very cool and possible souvenirs for the whole family. Kodak moment y’all!

The NC State football team is out of town, as are the Carolina Hurricanes. The State Fair? It’s around for two weeks. So check out Cooke Street Carnival and help it become a yearly event that expands to a full weekend in the future. Haunted House next year? Urban Corn Maze?

Full disclosure: I am one of the organizers of Cooke Street Carnival. It is organized as a neighborhood party that benefits the local Raleigh community and is not a profit making exhibition for anyone other than the vendors. If anyone you know wants to be a part of the carnival in any way, send us a message on the Facebook.

Anyone interested in being a vendor or band at the event can .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Well, I wandered down to the Cooke St. Carnival, not expecting all that much. Holy mackerel, what a scene it was! Maybe 700 people, tons of good food, hours of good music, scads of good stuff for sale, crowds of happy folks. Jedidiah & his gang make stuff happen!Hooray for the new generation.